1. Field of the Invention
The invention is directed to the field of internal combustion engines and more specifically to the area of utilizing continuous combustion for powering such engines.
2. Description of the Prior Art
It is well known that two and four stroke internal combustion engines are configured to have a variable combustion chamber as part of the cylinder in which the associated piston reciprocates. In the case of the “Internal Combustion Engine With a Single Crankshaft and Having Opposing Cylinders and Opposing Pistons in Each Cylinder” described in my U.S. Pat. No. 6,170,443 and incorporated herein by reference (“OPOC engine”), each working chamber is a combustion chamber associated with a pair of opposing pistons in a cylinder to provide direct power expansion forces to the faces of the pistons. In each case, combustion is ignited at critical points of the engine stroke cycle resulting in intermittent and individual combustions for each piston cycle. For instance, in a conventional Diesel- or Otto-engine operating at 5000 rpm the total combustion in each cycle has to be initiated, controlled and finalized in only one millisecond. While such high speed combustions are manageable from an engine control standpoint, there is room for improvement in terms of simplification, efficiencies and especially emissions.